I found a photo of this painting recently and was thinking how some dogs can remind you of a certain time in your life. This is Miriam's portrait of Jack Nicholson's dog Mr. Fabulous, or " Fab", as he was known to his close friends.
Two stories about Fab:
Jack shared a driveway with Marlon Brando so after entering the gate, it was left to Marlons' and right to Jacks'. At Jack's Fab was always there to greet you, this large black lab with soulful eyes. Marlon had two mean German Shepherds that lunged at you car. I think a man's dog says alot about him. I must admit Marlon was always nice to me, maybe not so much to others. One day while Jack was away I was at his house doing whatever was called for. I walked up the driveway to get the mail and Fab came along. Halfway down the driveway Fab started growling. I looked around and saw Marlon's two German Shepherds coming for me. Fab turned around, sat down on my feet and growled a growl that let the two Shepherds know what they were in for. Marlon's canine thugs stopped in their tracks, turned around and sulked away.
Second story:
Jack once set up a meeting with three people at the same time. On a cold morning there was me, Hal Ashby and, lets just say a talented prick in the entertainment industry. After Jack apologized for his over-scheduling, the talented prick demanded to be seen first as his time was quite valuable though history has shown that has not always been the case with him. Hal said, "Jarrett and I will be outside" as he escorted me and Fab out to Jack's cold windy deck. I wanted to go back and get my jacket but Hal said no, we were going to sit there and look at the view and ignore Jack and the prick. So there we sat , with Fab between us both of us hugging this large dog trying to keep warm. I finally said, "Hal I'm going to freeze out here", and Hal said, "No, If we laugh it will keep us warm", which made me laugh and which makes that cold day, sitting in the wind laughing with Hal Ashby and hugging Fab to stay warm...hard to forget
I suggested to Jack that Miriam should paint Fab's portrait which he thought was a good idea, and I asked him if there was anything Miriam should know about Fab? Jack said for her to seek Fab's essences, whatever that means. Miriam went to work and as we know she works slowly. By the time she was done with the portrait of Fab he had become ill and died, so when I took the portrait to Jack I was worried what Jack would think, had she caught the "essential Fab"? I brought the finished portrait up to Jack's one morning and put it in front of him as he was eating his breakfast, he looked at it, paused, and burst into tears...a boy and his dog. I noticed sometime later that he had put the portrait next to his bed which I found interesting as Miriam's portrait of my beloved dog hangs next to my bed. So Miriam's portrait of Fab hangs next to Jack's bed. In this jewel of a painting Fab's spirit lives on, watching, protecting his old friend.
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